US Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced that he would be ready to meet with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov within the framework of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) events to be held in the Philippines.
"I am not sure that it is finally decided. But we will be ready to meet with them," Rubio said, answering journalists' questions about whether he would be ready to meet with Lavrov or Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in the framework of the aforementioned events in the Philippines.
As the State Department previously announced, the US Secretary of State will be in Manila from July 19-23. He will also have bilateral meetings with officials of a number of countries in the Asia-Pacific region. Lavrov will also participate in several ASEAN ministerial-level events to be held in Manila. The spokeswoman of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova, previously confirmed that Lavrov will participate in these events on July 21-23.
